Voices

Supernatural Stories | Jun 9, 2013 | 8 min read
4 Votes, average: 4 out of 5
I sit up on my thin bed, hands and feet chained together, anxious for the next hour to arrive, but fearing when it does. Hopeful that it will help me out of this predicament, but fearing that it might not. I wait for it impatiently, but it does not come. I want its help, I need its help, but it does not show. I don't want to think that it has left me, to face the penalty, all by myself, like a lamb to the slaughter. I don't, I can't think like that. It will come through, just as it always has…
A few weeks earlier….
I am an average guy. I work at a supermarket as a cashier and earn much less money than I'm paid to keep. I live in a self contained apartment in a building old enough to be considered condemned. I live alone, no wife or girlfriend, not even a friend with benefits. Just me, no one but me.Very average indeed.
Financial breakthroughs rarely come my way, and if they ever do, they always have debts attached to them. Take this one: I enter a lottery where almost half a million shillings is at stake. I do whatever it takes to win, including using my own salary to buy more and more tickets, until the competition ends, but I am not the winner. Sad, isn't it? My hopes and dreams crushed at the announcement of a name other than mine. Disappointed, broke and at the brink of tears, I head home to try explain to the landlady why I can't pay rent on time. She hears none of it, and insists that she wants all her money. Fortunately, due to the dilapidated condition of her building, getting new tenants was basically like finding a needle in a haystack, so she lets me stay.
This was my life….well, the last I knew of it, until my salvation came one day, almost miraculously.
It is late at night, around half past nine, and I am the last cashier checking one last customer. The man has a lot of items, and is relieved that I am still there to help him. I scan the items, one at a time, trying to hurry up so that I too can go home. The man is impatient, and keeps staring at the screen to see if the total is ready.
As I scan the last item, I hear something. Something persistent, but not loud.Something nudging, but not threatening. I look around, but it seems like time is slowing down, giving me the opportunity to hear it. A man speaks, no, I speak. I recognize my own tone, whispering in my ear, coaxing me, pushing me with only one word.. "Steal." I want to block him out, but his voice is soothing to me, telling me what I want to hear. I want to, I have to, I will…
"Five thousand shillings?!For all this? Unbelievable!" the man exclaims, reaching into his wallet and pulling out the crisp, mint notes that I gladly take and hold on to as he takes his items and walks away. I smile to myself at his naivety and ignorance at all things mathematical as I pocket two thousand for myself and go home.
I shiver with delight at my accomplishment, unable to believe what I had just done. Surprisingly, I had no feelings of remorse for it, as ‘he' wouldn't let me feel guilty. I want to ask him who he is and why he couldn't help me earlier, but no answer. Only a tight grip on me, letting me know that I needed not to know, but to trust, nothing more.
Days go by, but no word from him, literally. I want him to tell me what to do, when and how to do what I want. I listen every night, hoping he might come, but end up disappointed. He won't come through….
On one night, as I am getting ready to leave for home, I hear something, again. But different this time. The nudging feeling is stronger this time. I look around to confirm that I am alone, and listen keenly. Again, it feels as if I am in a split second; my heart rate is slow, breathing is relaxed and my mind is cleared up…I hear a word. It comes to my ears in a soothing tone, almost touching me with its seductive allure. It wasn't him, it was her, and she was telling me.. "Indulge."
At that moment, a lady walks into the store. My eyes examined every part of her, from her long silky hair to her brown skin complexion to her gorgeous curves accentuated by her tight dress and her incredible thighs. She was beautiful. I go to her with the intention of telling her that we have closed, but ‘she' doesn't let me. Instead, she takes over me momentarily and tells the lady everything she wants to hear, from the simple ‘you look amazing' to the lying ‘any man would be lucky to have you'. I have her eating out of the palm of my hand, desiring to go away with me, and soon she does, to the storage area, where my passions clouded my judgment as I make passionate love to her slowly, intimately, as how her own lover would have done it.
Then, I hear something. It comes vehemently at me, not nudging but convincing; not coaxing but persuading, not him or her, but ‘it', speaking to me, in a low menacing tone, almost choking me with its compelling nature. In an instant of time, I have my will dictated to me once again with just one word.. "Mutilate."
I look at the lady, who is high up in her cloud of sexual ecstasy, almost at that point. I look her in the eye, with every intention of telling her to run as fast as she can from me, but ‘it' wouldn't let me. I go on and on, my heart beating faster and faster with every passing second that I am with her. I don't want to, I can't.. I won't. However, I must. So, I place my hand on the unknowing victim's throat and squeeze, tightening my grip as she begins to fight for her breath. I keep squeezing and squeezing, my strength increasing more and more until… my other hand relieves her head from her neck and drops it to the floor. I take a step back to watch her gorgeous body fall and lie in a pool of blood, a writhing mass thanks to my hand.I feel satisfied with myself as I dispose of her and clean the mess form the storage area, and finally head home.
Days go by, no word from either of them. I initially felt disgusted at what I had done to that lady, but the feeling I had at that time did not disappear, especially the one of satisfaction. That alone destroyed any form of conscience I had. Now, I am a different man.
I walk home slowly one afternoon, my hands clenching money in my hand for rent. I wanted to get it over with early so that the landlady could get off my case early. Thoughts of what I might do next linger in my mind; what will they tell me to do now? Will I actually do it, or will I back down? And if so, what will happen to me? I was so engrossed in my head that I almost didn't notice my landlady walk into a narrow street, where she usually went to smoke. I tried walking past it, but my feet were frozen to the ground. I couldn't breathe nicely, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest and my vision was blurry. I recognized these symptoms clearly. This time, an angry, violent person clawed at me with his malicious tone, coercing me with one word alone.. "Consume."
I was scared. I wanted to scream for help, yell at her to run away or even cause a scene to let her escape; but no. I composed myself and followed her into the street, my last remaining conscience fighting with ‘him' with every step that I took. I was struggling to walk back, but he wouldn't let me. I plead with him to let me be, but my feet went on, my arms tightened in my pockets and my will finally conformed to his.
She saw and came towards me, but before she could get a word out, my hand covers her mouth and my leg trip hers, misbalancing her for me to carry her on to a darker, untouched part of the street, where I would do the deed. The look of terror on her face feeds my hunger, as my hand felt every inch of her body, as if I was examining my catch. My finger then dug into her neck as she squirmed in horror, blood gushing onto my waiting tongue. She fought on and on, however futile, as I kept draining the life out of her. I couldn't believe it, and neither could she. I felt an inhuman strength overwhelm me, sipping into my arms and directing me to her torso. I am no longer in control. My arms hold her up firmly and start separating, slowly and painfully to savor every moment of helplessness form her. She tries to get a sound out, but she can't. She tries to move, but she is weak, all to my enjoyment. Then, in a split second, my hands separated, each holding one half of her body. I leave them on the ground, unable to look away, unable to understand or believe that I actually did that. My head was dizzy, my mouth was bloody and my arms ached. In a moment of panic, I ran away from the gruesome crime scene….
No words could even scratch the surface of the emotional trauma I was undergoing. I paced up and down my room, filled with fear and trembling at my own deeds. What on earth had I become? What would I do now? Such questions kept me on my feet, awake and alert at any symptom to indicate their presence. I decided to leave. Yes, the clever thing to do, or so I thought.
An hour's worth of packing, and I was ready to leave my old life behind. However, as soon as I open the door, I hear something. I was barely breathing, I couldn't even feel a pulse and I was shivering form head to toe. I fall to the ground, trembling like an epileptic, unbearable pain overwhelming my body. I hear a flurry of footsteps headed my way, inching closer and closer to my apartment to reveal an angry mob, which beat the hell out of me with every imaginable crude weapon. I don't know how, but I was found out. I couldn't feel anything but the blows and kicks I took, so much that even calling for help was foolish. As I edge closer to unconsciousness, one word sends me that way.. "Endure".
The present day…
I am being led to the hangman's noose. No hope for me, no trial for a killer, just death. As they fasten the rope on my neck, I look at the witnesses, all satisfied that I am being brought to justice. The pastor comes and tries to redeem me from an eternity of hell. The doctor checks me and gives the approval needed. Then, as the moment draws nearer, heart racing, bated breath, mixed thoughts and a shivering body, I hear something. My last word as the lever is pulled. A calm person, sounding like me, whispers, "Suffer"…..

Tags:

  
Report This Story
Notice (8): Undefined index: User [APP/View/stories/story.ctp, line 227]
Notice (8): Trying to access array offset on value of type null [APP/View/stories/story.ctp, line 227]

Recommendations

Reviews

K. K. Ameyo Jun 20, 2013

Thanks.Im glad you liked it.

Download the Short Story Lovers App

Read and write stories anytime, anywhere with the Short Story Lovers app